US 12,282,190 B2
Chip-to-chip optical interconnection using high refractive index couplers
Thomas L. Koch, Tucson, AZ (US); Erfan M. Fard, Tucson, AZ (US); Roland Himmelhuber, Tucson, AZ (US); Linan Jiang, Tucson, AZ (US); Stanley K. H. Pau, Tucson, AZ (US); Robert A. Norwood, Tucson, AZ (US); and Kyungjo Kim, Tucson, AZ (US)
Assigned to Arizona Board of Regents on Behalf of the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (US)
Appl. No. 17/615,136
Filed by Arizona Board of Regents on Behalf of the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (US)
PCT Filed Jun. 1, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/035512
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 30, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/243692, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 3, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/855,341, filed on May 31, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0244458 A1, Aug. 4, 2022
Int. Cl. G02B 6/122 (2006.01); G02B 6/12 (2006.01); G02B 6/30 (2006.01)
CPC G02B 6/1228 (2013.01) [G02B 6/1221 (2013.01); G02B 6/1223 (2013.01); G02B 6/305 (2013.01); G02B 2006/12147 (2013.01); G02B 2006/12173 (2013.01); G02B 2006/12176 (2013.01); G02B 2006/1219 (2013.01)] 31 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for establishing optical coupling between a first planar waveguide and a second waveguide that are spatially separated from one another, comprising:
arranging an optical interconnect on the first planar waveguide, the optical interconnect being defined by a single waveguide having first and second end portions and an intermediate portion, each of the end portions having an inverse taper; and
arranging the second waveguide on the optical interconnect so that the second waveguide overlaps with the first end portion of the optical interconnect but not the second end portion of the optical interconnect such that the first end portion of the optical interconnect is located between the first planar waveguide and the second waveguide to thereby enable an adiabatic transition of an optical signal from the first planar waveguide to the second waveguide
via the optical interconnect, the first planar waveguide and the second waveguide having different refractive indices from one another at an operating wavelength and the optical interconnect having a higher refractive index at the operating wavelength than the refractive indices of a core of the first planar waveguide and a core of the second waveguide, wherein at least a portion of the second waveguide is located on a different substrate than the first planar waveguide and the optical interconnect is entirely located on a substrate on which the first planar waveguide is located.